By God! We Must Stop Him!

It's too hot to go down to West Beach yet, so Ageless stops off at the library.

He goes to the section on sand crabs, and chooses a book.

He lugs it back to a table.

There is someone at the table.

This is my table, says Ageless.

'Tis my table now, says Robbie Burns. But we might share it.

Lift my book up, says Ageless.

Aye I will, says Robbie. What's this? Wee crabbies?

Sand crabbies, says Ageless. I'm boning up. Later this evening I'm going on a mission.

You don't say so? says Robbie. And what is this mission?

Never you mind, says Ageless. I don't know where your sympathies lie.

Try me, says Robbie.

No, says Ageless. Read your own bookie.

Are ye now making fun o' me ? asks Robbie. I don't have a bookie.

It is true. He does not have a bookie.

So why are you in here taking up a table? snaps Ageless.

'Tis forty degrees outside, says Robbie. That's no picnic.

True, says Ageless. But don't you stand under a tree?

The humidity gets me, says Robbie. This tight jacket, the high boots...

What high boots? asks Ageless.

Then he remembers. Robbie leaves his boots outside.

With the result that Robbie becomes instantly shorter.

Ageless feels sympathy for Robbie. A lobster has his problems too.

Sometimes, when moulting... but we won't go there. Not in the library.

Okay, says Ageless. Let's work together. What I need to know is, how do they eat?

Robbie flicks through the pages.

Sand crabbies eat by filtering small particles through the water.

That doesn't sound right, says Ageless. I would have thought they rooted for molluscs, worms and plankton.

Well, if you're no' going to abide by the words in the bookie.... says Robbie.

But I am, says Ageless. It's useful information. That must be how Gaius plans to meddle with their mortality.

How? asks Robbie.

By seeding the water with microplastics, says Ageless darkly.

By god! cries Robbie. We must stop him!